Dryer for moist particles such as grain

ABSTRACT

A particle dryer embodies a rotatable tube mounted at an angle with the particles introduced at the forward highest end of the tube from which the heated air flows. The flow of grain to the tube is regulated so as a limited amount will be engaged by extending longitudinal channels or angles on the wall and sprinkle downwardly from the tube side to the bottom and counterflow through the moving heated air. Rearwardly of the center a sleeve is disposed about and spaced from the rotatable tube. The sleeve is supported on a burner casing at the bottom to produce a flow of heated air to the wall of the tube which is perforated and lined with a screen on the inside. The sleeve is covered with insulating material along with the section thereahead, the former of which is stationary and the latter of which rotates with the tube. A washerlike split ring is secured at the ends of the sleeve made from glass filaments or the like which will withstand heat and wear when disposed in engagement with the rotatable wall of the tube for trapping air within the sleeve and forcing it to pass through the perforations into the interior of the tube. A grain cooling section is provided rearwardly of the heating section whereby the dried grain may be cooled preparatory to being dispensed into suitable containers.

Foy

1 Oct. 28, 1975 DRYER FOR MOIST PARTICLES SUCH AS GRAIN [76] Inventor:Richard F. Foy, 2551 S. Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, Mich. 48013[22] Filed: July 31, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 493,212

[52] US. Cl. 432/105; 432/106; 432/117 [51] Int. Cl. F27B 7/36; F27B7/32 [58] Field of Search 432/105, 106, 108, 117, 432/1 18 [56]References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,020,960 ll/1935 Pehrson et al.432/105 2,455,531 12/1948 Stroman 3,242,888 3/1966 Klovers et a1 432/106Primary Examiner-John J. Camby Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Harness, Dickey& Pierce [57] ABSTRACT A particle dryer embodies a rotatable tubemounted at an angle with the particles introduced at the forward highestend of the tube from which the heated air flows. The flow of grain tothe tube is regulated so as a limited amount will be engaged byextending longitudinal channels or angles on the wall and sprinkledownwardly from the tube side to the bottom and counterflow through themoving heated air. Rearwardly of the center a sleeve is disposed aboutand spaced from the rotatable tube. The sleeve is supported on a burnercasing at the bottom to produce a flow of heated air to the wall of thetube which is perforated and lined with a screen on the inside. Thesleeve is covered with insulating material along with the sectionthereahead, the former of which is stationary and the latter of whichrotates with the tube. A washerlike split ring is secured at the ends ofthe sleeve made from glass filaments or the like which will withstandheat and wear when disposed in engagement with the rotatable wall of thetube for trapping air within the sleeve and forcing it to pass throughthe perforations into the interior of the tube. A grain cooling sectionis provided rearwardly of the heating section whereby the dried grainmay be cooled preparatory to being dispensed into suitable containers.

7 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures Sheet10 f3 m 3,915,627

US. Patent Oct. 28, 1975 US. Patent 0a. 28, 1975 Sheet 2 on 3,915,627

US. Patent Oct. 28, 1975 Sheet 3 of3 3,915,627

/li" A m 1 DRYER FOR MOIST PARTICLES SUCH AS GRAIN BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION Reference may be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,677,195; 2,683,594;2,774,587; 2,939,693; 3,076,269; 3,136,611 and 3,360,868 which wereuncovered in a search and which shows the state of the art coveringsimilar types of particle heating devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The dryer of the present invention can be madein any size but in the present instance is constructed to fit upon thebed of a truck so that it can be transported from one place to anotherto dry the damp grain on the site where it is stored, usually on a farmwhere it was grown. The dryer embodies a tube which is approximately 3/2 times its diameter which in the present ex ample is approximatelyfeet. This tube is divided into a front grain receiving end, a reargrain expelling end, a preliminary drying section adjacent to the frontend and a heating section between the preliminary drying section and therear end. The forward portions of the rear end and the preliminarydrying section have a ring shaped I-section element thereabout in whicha plural ity of rollers extend with the outer face engaged by a pair ofspaced supporting rollers. The rollers are mounted on pedestals, theones at the front intake end are higher than those at the rear outletend so as to have the axis of the tube disposed at an angle slopingtoward the rear end. This causes the particles of grain to move from theintake end to the exhaust end as the tube is rotated.

A third ring is mounted on the tube which may have teeth for a chainwhich is driven by a sprocket on a motor for turning the tube at a slowspeed of approximately revolutions a minute. The preliminary dryingsection has a layer of insulating material thereabout retained thereonby a sleeve of sheet aluminum fixed to the outer surface thereof and tothe tube. The heating section is formed by a U-shaped sleeve which isspaced from the tube and supported on a perforated offset housing inwhich an elongated burner is mounted and operated by propane or othersuitable gas from a replaceable tank. Most of the products of combustionfrom the burner mixed with the air from the perforated openings in theburner housing travels upward about one side of the tube which isperforated in the area of the sleeve with the inside covered by a screento permit the entrance of the heated air while preventing the passing ofthe grain and chaff therefrom.

A frame is mounted at each end of the sleeve to which it is secured andthe ends of the sleeve have a washerlike element attached thereto madeof glass filaments or the like which will withstand the heat and wearwhen disposed in engagement with the outer surface of the tube tomaintain the heated air within the sleeve and force it through theperforations and screen into the tube where it will pass to and from afan at the front end, The granular particles are raised and dropped fromthe aligned channels and angle members which are longitudinally disposedon the inner wall of the tube so as to have the heated air pass throughthe moist granules as they fall from the wall.

A frame is provided at the front higher end of the tube having a hopperfor delivering the moist particles through a fixed wall within the tubeend. The particles are metered from a second hopper which has a gatewhich may be moved inwardly and outwardly to change the size of theorifice through which the particles pass so as to control the flowthereof to and through the tube. An auger is disposed in the secondhopper for delivering the particles therefrom to the first said hopperwhich delivers them to the tube end. A frame is also provided at therear end of the tube for supporting a truncated disk therewithin havingthe cutaway portion extending above the bottom of the tube at one sidethereof. An outer wall is provided with a screen for the passage of airwhich cools the grain before it enters the discharge hopper. The outerwall is spaced from the bottom of the rear end of the tube, with aninner wall extending forwardly and arched around the rear end of thetube for catching the grain as it is advanced to the area between thewalls which form the discharge hopper. The discharge hopper may have anauger piv oted therein for raising the dried granules and deliveringthem to a bin on the body of a truck.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation ofa supporting base which may be the floor of a truck for a particledrying device embodying features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1, takenon the line 2-2 thereof;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1, takenon the line 3-3 thereof;

FIG. 4 is a view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1, taken on theline 44 thereof;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1, takenon the line 5-5 thereof;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged broken sectional view of the structure illustratedin FIG. 1, taken on the line 66 thereof;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged broken sectional view of the structure illustratedin FIG. 1, taken on the line 77 thereof;

FIG. 8 is an end view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1 as viewedfrom the point 8 thereof, and

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 8, takenon the line 9-9 thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The particle dryer ll of thepresent invention embodies a tube 12 of substantial length beingapproximately three or four times its diameter in length. I- beamelements 13 and 14 are formed into rings and secured to the outersurface of the tube 12 near the rear end of the front section 15 andnear the forward end of the rear section 16. Wheels 17 are supported bybrackets 18 which are mounted upon spaced pedestals 19 to have thewheels 17 spaced apart a substantial distance for engaging the outer webof the element 13 and supporting the front portion of the tube 12 forrotation. Similar wheels 21 are supported by brackets 22 on pedestals 23with the wheels in engagement with the outer web of the element 14 andspaced apart to be aligned with the wheels 17 for supporting the rearportion of the tube 12. An additional wheel 20 is mounted on an axle 20Abetween the pedestals 23, the periphery of which wheel 20 extends intothe rearwardly facing side channel of the element 14 for preventing therearward movement of the tube 12. It will be noted that the frontpedestals 19 are higher than the rear pedestals 23 so as to have thetube 12 slope from the front intake end rearwardly to the rear dischargeend.

A drive ring 24 may be constructed as a pulley or as a sprocket havingteeth which engages a chain 25 which meshes with the teeth of a sprocket26 supported and driven by a shaft 27 from a reduction gear box 28 of amotor 29 through a universal joint 27. If the ring 24 is a pulley, thenthe chain 25 would be a belt driven from a pulley on the end of theshaft 27. The preliminary drying section 31 of the tube 12 is coveredwith an insulating material 32 contained within a sleeve 33 of sheetmaterial, preferably of aluminum. The insulation 32 and sleeve 33 arefixed to the section 31 of the tube to rotate therewith.

The heating section 34 has an arched frame 35 disposed at each end forsecuring a sleeve 36 which is supported about the tube section 34 inspaced relation therewith as illustrated in FIG. 6. The portion of thetube 12 forming the section 34 has perforations 37 extendingtherethrough enclosed by an inner screen 38 which is secured tolongitudinally disposed angle members 39. The angle members 39 aredisposed in extension of the channel members 41 which are alignedtherewith and diametrically spaced 90 apart along the inner wall of thetube. The members within the sections 15, 16 and 31 are the ones ofchannel section 41, as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 9. The channel and anglesections control the movement of the grain as it is carried upwardlywith the wall to spill over the channel or angle members to passdownwardly through the heated air which is moving forwardly along theside of the wall from the heated section through the preliminary dryingsection and to and from the front end into which the particles, whichare usually grain, are introduced.

The outer surface of the sleeve 36 is covered by the insulation 32enclosed by an aluminum sheet 42. In this instance, the insulation 32and sheet 42 are fixed to the spaced arched frames 35 at each end of theheating section. The burner area 43 is confined by an offset elongatedcasing 44 having a plurality of apertures 45 therethrough for thepassage of air which supports combustion at a burner 46 which embodies aplurality of tubular elements having openings at the top thereof. Theburner is offset to deliver heated air along the side 47 of the tube 12and is supplied with propane or other suitable gas through a conduit 48from a gas tank 49 mounted on the base or platform 10.

In accordance with one of the features of the present invention, thegrain which is dried within the dryer 11 is subject to a coatingoperation before it is dispensed or discharged. More particularly, asthe grain flows into or th'rough'the section 16, it will be cooled underthe influence .of the rotating angle members 39 and by the flow of airsupplied by the fan 40. Accordingly, the

temperature of the grain will be reduced to an acceptable level beforethe dried grain is dispersed through the conduit 74 into the hopper 77,from where the grain may be transported to any suitable destination foruse, storage, etc.

A hopper 53 is mounted on a frame 54 and provided with a nozzle 55projecting through an opening in a circular closure plate supported bythe frame 54 inside of the tube 12 for introducing a flow of moist grainthereinto to be dried. A fan 40 may be mounted on the plate 30 fordischarging air from the front end of the tube 12. A flowcontrol hopper56 may be mounted at the bottom of the frame 54 having a slide therein(not shown) which is moved by turning a handle 57 on a threaded screw 58to regulate the size of the opening for metering the grain delivered tothe hopper 53. By using an auger device 59 the grain is advanced fromthe hopper 56 to the hopper 53.

As the tube 12 is rotated, the grain passes rearwardly along the tube 12as it is raised and continuously dropped through the heated air which ispassing along the wall from the rear to the front end of the tube incounterflow movement to the movement of the grain. The flow from theburner 46 containing the products of combustion and the air from theintake apertures 45 will pass upwardly along one side of the tube 12from which rotation occurs into the area between the tube 12 and sleeve36. The heated mass will pass through the perforations 37 and screen 38into the tube 12. To prevent the escape of the heated air, asillustrated in FIG. 7, a washerlike element 61 is secured to the spacedframes 35 and the ends of the sleeve 36 by suitable means, hereinillustrated as by bolts 62. The washers 61 are made from some durablematerial such as filaments of glass which will withstand the effects ofwear and heat and which is capable of retaining the heated air withinthe space between the tube 12 and sleeve 36. A similar washer 61 may besecured to the edge of the plate 30 in engagement with the tube 12 toprevent the escape of air between the plate 30 and tube 12.

An angle member frame 63 is constructed to have the upper portiondisposed within the rear end of the tube 12 for supporting a truncatedcircular plate 64 within the end with the cutoff section 60 disposed atthe side 47 in alignment with the side at which the heated air isdelivered. The lower portion 65 of the frame 63 extends outwardly fromthe upper portion to form a delivery hopper 66 having an outer wall 67containing a screened opening 68 at the side portion 47 for the passageof air into the rear end of the tube 12. An inner wall 69 has asemi-cylindrical flange 71 extending beneath the rear end of the tube 12to permit the passage of the grain out through the end of the tube intothe area between the sloping edge walls 73 into a circular conduit 74from which the grain passes downwardly beneath the platform or base 10where it is collected in suitable containers such as a hopper 77. Theframe 63 is supported on the platform or base 10 by a suitable plate 75and braced by angle members 76 from the platform or base 10. An auger 78delivers the dried grain from the hopper 77 to a bin or truck body inthe conventional manner.

With this arrangement, the grain or other particles are continuouslyadvanced through the drying tube 12 which is continuously rotated andprovided with a flow of heated air from the rear to the front end alongone side of the wall in countermovement to the direction of grain flowand in the path of fall of the grain particles. Longitudinally extendingvanes within the tube continuously raise the grain and permit it to fallfrom the tube side through the heated air flowing therealong. Thiscontinuously subjects the grain particles to the heated air as they passto the rear end of the tube by the slope thereof while beingcontinuously raised and dropped through the flow of heated air. Once thegrain reaches the cooling section at the rearward end of the tube 12,the flow of air from the fan 40 will cool the heated and dried grain.after which time the grain may be dis-.

tioned, it is to be understood that any type of particles which are tobe treated by a flow of heated air can be satisfactorily dried by beingpassed through the tube 12 from the front intake to the rear dischargeend thereof, as specifically described hereinabove.

I claim:

1. In a drying device for particles of material, a tube of substantiallength having intake and exhaust end sections and a preliminary dryingsection and a heated section between the end sections, perforationsbeing provided through the wall of said tube at the heated sectionpermitting heat to pass into the tube during rotation thereof, screenmeans supported within said tube at the heated section covering saidperforations, rings mounted on the outer surface of said tube inwardlyof the ends thereof, rollers engaged by said rings by which the tube issupported for rotation and retained against endwise movement, a motor,drive means between said tube and motor by which the tube is rotated,insulating means on the preliminary drying section rotatable with saidtube, a burner housing, heating means for said heated section embodyinga fixed sleeve spaced from said tube and engaged by said burner housing,said burner housing offset toward one side of said sleeve for deliveringair along one side of the tube and heating means within said housing forheating air and delivering it between said sleeve and tube.

2. In a drying device as recited in claim 1, wherein rows of outwardlyextending members are provided on the inner wall of said tube from whichthe particles fall when raised by the tube as it is rotated, the heatedair at the side of the tube passing through the falling particles incounter-flow relation thereof.

3. In a drying device as recited in claim I, wherein washer elements aresupported on the ends of said sleeve in engagement with said tube forconfining the heated air within said sleeve.

4. In a drying device as recited in claim 1, wherein hopper means isprovided at the intake end extending through a circular plate thereinfor delivering the particles at a predetermined rate to within the frontend of said tube.

5. In a drying device as recited in claim 4, wherein hopper means isprovided at the rear end of said tube having bottom inner and outeropenings aligned with the side of the tube along which the heated air isdirected.

6. In a drying device as recited in claim 5, wherein the hopper means atthe rear end section has a screen over the outer opening for the passageof air into the rear end of the tube.

7. In a drying device as recited in claim 6, wherein the forward wall ofthe hopper means at the rear end section has an arcuate flange extendingforwardly beneath the lower portion of said tube.

1. In a drying device for particles of material, a tube of substantiallength having intake and exhaust end sections and a preliminary dryingsection and a heated section between the end seCtions, perforationsbeing provided through the wall of said tube at the heated sectionpermitting heat to pass into the tube during rotation thereof, screenmeans supported within said tube at the heated section covering saidperforations, rings mounted on the outer surface of said tube inwardlyof the ends thereof, rollers engaged by said rings by which the tube issupported for rotation and retained against endwise movement, a motor,drive means between said tube and motor by which the tube is rotated,insulating means on the preliminary drying section rotatable with saidtube, a burner housing, heating means for said heated section embodyinga fixed sleeve spaced from said tube and engaged by said burner housing,said burner housing offset toward one side of said sleeve for deliveringair along one side of the tube and heating means within said housing forheating air and delivering it between said sleeve and tube.
 2. In adrying device as recited in claim 1, wherein rows of outwardly extendingmembers are provided on the inner wall of said tube from which theparticles fall when raised by the tube as it is rotated, the heated airat the side of the tube passing through the falling particles incounterflow relation thereof.
 3. In a drying device as recited in claim1, wherein washer elements are supported on the ends of said sleeve inengagement with said tube for confining the heated air within saidsleeve.
 4. In a drying device as recited in claim 1, wherein hoppermeans is provided at the intake end extending through a circular platetherein for delivering the particles at a predetermined rate to withinthe front end of said tube.
 5. In a drying device as recited in claim 4,wherein hopper means is provided at the rear end of said tube havingbottom inner and outer openings aligned with the side of the tube alongwhich the heated air is directed.
 6. In a drying device as recited inclaim 5, wherein the hopper means at the rear end section has a screenover the outer opening for the passage of air into the rear end of thetube.
 7. In a drying device as recited in claim 6, wherein the forwardwall of the hopper means at the rear end section has an arcuate flangeextending forwardly beneath the lower portion of said tube.